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al-Mutahhar ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi

Died
355 AH
Born in
-

al-Mutahhar ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi (d. after 355 AH / 966 CE; also recorded as d. c. 355 AH / 966 CE) was a fourth-century AH historian who lived in Sijistan, best known for his universal history Kitab al-Bad' wa al-Tarikh (The Beginning and History) .

Life and background

Al-Mutahhar ibn Tahir bore the nisba al-Maqdisi, indicating a connection to Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) . He resided in the city of Bust in the region of Sijistan, where Carl Brockelmann noted that he died . Classical biographical dictionaries did not preserve independent entries for his life, leaving both classical and modern scholars with no details regarding his teachers, students, or early upbringing beyond what is preserved within his own writing .

Intellectual views and standing

Al-Maqdisi completed Kitab al-Bad' wa al-Tarikh in 355 AH (966 CE) . Later bibliographical sources, such as Katip Celebi's Kashf al-Zunun and the geography work Kharidat al-Aja'ib, mistakenly attributed the treatise to the earlier scholar Abu Zayd al-Balkhi . This attribution was refuted on the grounds that al-Balkhi died in 322 AH (934 CE)—decades before the work was written—and that Ibn al-Nadim omitted it from his catalogue of al-Balkhi's writings in al-Fihrist . Furthermore, the early historian Abu Mansur al-Tha'alibi cited the work twice in Ghurar al-Siyar and credited it explicitly to al-Mutahhar ibn Tahir, an attribution later corroborated through modern scholarship and editing .

Textual analysis of his theological positions points to Mu'tazili leanings . These views appear in his discussions affirming absolute human free choice, the theological principle that God acts in accordance with what is best for creation (ri'ayat al-aslah), and his rationalist explanations concerning the Prophet's Night Journey and Ascension (al-Mi'raj) .

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List of Works

  • al-Bad wa al-Tarikh

    al-Bad' wa al-Tarikh (The Beginning and History) is an encyclopedic universal history and theological-geographical compendium compiled in 355 AH (966 CE).